Extend the Life of your Tools and Materials with Sandblasting

Posted on: December 4th, 2014 by byersbushblog

One of the worst things that can happen to metal materials is the development of rust. Once this plague sets in it will slowly eat away your objects until there’s nothing left. Fortunately, with sandblasting most rusty surfaces can be effectively cleaned up and protected against the elements once again.

The Benefits of Sandblasting Versus Cleaning Alternatives

There are plenty of different ways to remove rust from a surface, but many of them are very time consuming or sloppy compared to the streamlined process of sandblasting. Using tools like grinders or hand sanders will often remove rust, but they take longer and can remove more material that you initially intend. Sandblasting is an effective way to clean away fine coats of rust after flaking away the thick sections because it removes a thin layer of material quickly and efficiently. An experienced professional will choose a sandblasting media that is only slightly harder than the material being worked on giving them enough control to create a smooth finish that you can easily paint or treat any way you like.

Fully Removing any Rust

When you have an item sand blasted you can rest-assured that all of the rust is going to be removed and that you can treat the item without worrying about the rust coming back again from one untreated spot. Unlike many other rust removal methods that involve tools that affect a smaller area at a time, sandblasting hits a wide section of material and quickly wears away any rust. Complete coverage can be applied using this method, allowing the professional to be very thorough and avoid missing any patches of rust. When treating the surface yourself using a different method, it’s more likely that a few patches of rust will persist once finished.

Cleaning Irregular Shaped Objects

One of the best uses for sandblasting is cleaning irregularly shaped objects that are difficult to get with a rotary sander or sanding drum. For removing rust from objects such as coil springs, sandblasting can be very effective and fast. Cleaning such materials with traditional rust removal tools such as a grinder or steel wool is going to be quite difficult and time consuming compared to blasting them.

Seeking Professional Help

Although you can rent the equipment for sandblasting and you can do the work yourself it’s not a wise thing to do, especially for larger projects. Experienced professionals know how to achieve even results on a variety of metals and you’re likely to get a better looking finish when you pay an expert to do the work for you.

Not only will your finished material look better when handled by a pro, but you’ll remain safer by hiring someone else to take on the work. Sandblasting can be a dangerous and unpleasant process if you don’t know what you’re doing. You need the proper safety equipment to complete it safely and if you aren’t sure exactly what you are doing you can really hurt yourself.

For your next project save yourself time and effort and work with a professional sandblaster. They can help you achieve the best results much faster than you could do so on your own at home. Just make sure that you treat your finished product with an anti-rust coating to keep it in good condition long after it’s been cleaned up. Byers Bush offers sandblasting services by the hour, and they have experience applying powder coatings to keep rust away from newly cleaned objects and can help extend the life of railings, battery boxes, rims and a variety of other metal objects that you probably don’t want to replace.